“Changing Colorado’s drug sentencing laws to encourage treatment over incarceration for low-level users” is a great idea, except for the part about where these low-level drug users are going to get their treatment. Colorado is woefully lacking in treatment facilities. Thanks to the insurance laws passed in the late 1980s, excellent treatment facilities like Parkside Lodge in Thornton, Cottonwood Hill and New Beginnings in Lakewood and many other facilities were forced to close their doors.

The small mom-and-pop treatment facilities around Denver that deal primarily with DUIs are doing a representative job, but they are too few.
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to have some really professional, well-staffed treatment facilities around before you enact any laws mandating treatment for low-level users?

John A. McElrath, Wheat Ridge

This letter was published in the May 5 edition.

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